I glanced at Tristan, at his concerned blue eyes. If he kissed me would it be as passionate?
I blushed as though he could read my mind and looked away from him.
Tristan walked back over to the horse. “Was the Black Knight angry when he found out you were trying to help defeat him?”
“I’m not stupid. I didn’t tell him that.”
“How did you get around not telling him?” I didn’t want to talk about it. I tied the satchel around my waist and joined him next to the horse. “Tristan, what do you really know about the Black Knight? I mean, you’re trying to defeat him and I just helped you, 224/431
but what if it isn’t the right thing? What if he’s not supposed to be defeated?”
Tristan’s eyebrows drew together like he had no idea what I was talking about. “You helped me? I told you to stay away from the Black Knight, but no, you wouldn’t listen. So he carried you off, and I’ve spent the last hour out looking for you, worried sick that I’d find you somewhere in tiny pieces. When I did come across you—amazingly intact—the Black Knight threatened to cut off my hands if I ever lifted a sword to him again. So exactly which part of all of that was you helping me?” I scanned the forest to make sure we were alone, then lowered my voice to a whisper. I couldn’t tell him that I’d switched enchantments with the Black Knight, but I could tell Tristan part of the truth. “I took the Black Knight’s enchantment from him. He’s not invincible anymore.”
Tristan gave me a look of frank disbelief, so I added,
“Okay, granted he may still be an excellent swordsman.
In fact, he cut the ties from my hand without giving me so much as a scratch. It was amazing.” Tristan took up the horse reins. “Yes, he’s an amazing swordsman. I think that fact has already been established.”
He turned his back on me and led the horse toward the river. I followed after him, hurrying until I was side 225/431
by side with him. “The point is, he’s not invincible anymore. You could beat him at something.”
“Like a friendly game of poker, perhaps?”
“I’m being serious.”
Tristan finally stopped and gave me his complete attention. “And just how did you take his enchantment away from him?”
I didn’t answer. I couldn’t.
“Not even the royal court, which has access to wizards, could break the Black Knight’s enchantment. How could you do it?”
“The royal court may have access to wizards, but they aren’t using them. I met a wizard coming out of the castle and he helped me do it.” Tristan tugged at the horse’s reins and walked the rest of the distance to the river. The horse took a couple of steps into the water and lowered his head to drink.
Tristan no longer seemed concerned with my story. In fact, he only seemed to be asking me questions to prove what an idiot I was. “And why would a wizard help you?”
“I paid him well enough. I gave him matches, some silverware, and a bottle of Tylenol.” Tristan’s head swung around to face me. “You gave him all of that?”
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“It was worth it. I mean, it was worth it if the Black Knight is really a villain—which suddenly I’m not sure about.” I walked to Tristan with my hands held out.
“What if he was supposed to be some sort of great hero like King Arthur or Hercules and I just betrayed him?” Tristan shrugged, seeming more amused than worried. “Then I guess it would be doubly ironic, wouldn’t it?”
When he saw I didn’t know what he was talking about he added, “Hercules and King Arthur were both betrayed by women.”
Hearing this felt like a bad omen. “They were?”
“Didn’t you ever pay attention in school?”
“Okay, that’s not the point. The point is I don’t know if I’ve done a good thing or a horrible one.” Tristan folded his arms. “I doubt you’ve done anything but lost a few things and caused us both trouble.
Enchantments are very hard to break, you know.”
“I didn’t break it, I took it.” I remembered the mirror and opened up my satchel. “Here—I can prove it.” I sifted through the contents. “The wizard’s assistant let me take his magic mirror for the week. When you put it over your hand, it tells you what enchantments you carry.” I kept sifting through the satchel but didn’t find the mirror. I looked through the contents again, feeling Tristan’s disbelieving gaze on me as I did. Finally I took 227/431
items out, handing a few of them to Tristan. I knew I had put the mirror in the satchel, and yet even after I’d pulled almost everything out, I didn’t find it.
“It isn’t here,” I said, my voice tinged with outrage.
“He said I could have it for a week and now it’s disappeared.”
Tristan put the items he held back into the satchel.
“Savannah, have you ever gone to a big city and seen the guys on the street corners selling Rolex watches for twenty dollars? Or the sleazy-looking guys who say they can get you a cut-rate deal on designer purses?”
“It was real magic.”
“I’m sure it was. It was a mirror that told you whatever you wanted to hear and then disappeared along with a good chunk of your wealth. You can buy that sort of magic from a lot of wizards, so from now on let me do the bargaining, okay?” The horse finished drinking and walked back over to Tristan, flicking its ears. Tristan patted his neck. “You ready to go, boy?”
I shoved the rest of the things back into the satchel, biting back my disappointment. I didn’t want Tristan to be right, but suddenly I wondered if he was. Thus far my dealings with magic—fairies and leprechauns—had been less than successful. Perhaps wizards were the same.
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The apprentice had told me I’d have the mirror for a week and it had disappeared in just hours. If he hadn’t told the truth about that, what else had been lies?
I should have felt relieved at the idea that the Black Knight’s future wasn’t my responsibility, but I just felt cheated, unsure of myself, and small.
Tristan helped me up on the horse and then got up in front of me. I put my arms around him in order to hang on. It felt oddly intimate but at the same time comforting. When I’d ridden with the Black Knight I’d felt nothing but armor, heard nothing but my own frightened breaths. Now I could feel the warmth coming through Tristan’s tattered wool tunic. It smelled of smoke, dirt, and sweat, but mostly smoke. With only fire for warmth, most people smelled of smoke. It was the pervading smell of the Middle Ages.
It suddenly struck me that the Black Knight hadn’t smelled like smoke, or dirt, or anything.
I thought of this as the horse plodded along. I listened to Tristan breathing in a rhythm that almost matched the horse’s hoofbeats and had to fight the impulse to lean forward and rest my head against his back.
What was wrong with me? How could I kiss one guy so passionately I started to have feelings for him and then only minutes later be fighting the desire to lean my 229/431
head against another guy’s back? And all of this when I still had feelings for Hunter.
Hunter. I thought of his name, pictured his face, and waited for emotion to clench around my heart. Only it didn’t. Everything about Hunter seemed so far away, like someone I’d only dreamed about once. The modern world was beginning to fade away and everything here—the smell of grass and horse and smoke, the way the sun warmed the top of my head, the smudges of dirt on Tristan’s hands—all of this felt much more real. It was hard to concentrate on Hunter and I found I simply didn’t want to.
I wanted to lean into Tristan. I wanted him to put an arm around me and say I didn’t have to worry because everything would work out all right. I wanted him to tell me, like he had back in the inn, that I was smart. I wasn’t sure he thought so anymore, though.
This thought, oddly enough, made my heart clench.